Genesis

In the summer of 1915, the advantage in the air battles of the Great War was held by the Germans, with the Fokker 'Eindekker.' It was not a particularly outstanding aeroplane, but it did have one significant feature which caused it to be see as the scourge of the Allies. That feature was a synchronised gun - one which could be fired through the blades of the propeller without cutting it in half. Two Fokker engineers, Heinrich Luebbe and Fritz Heber, devised a cam-operated mechanism that was connected to the oil pump of the E1's Oberursel rotary engine and the trigger of the Parabellum machine gun. The result was that when the pilot pulled the trigger on the gun, the oil pump, on the feed stroke, would actuate the cam and interrupt the firing mechanism of the gun. Small wonder then, for a while, that morale sank and some Allied pilots were heard to describe themselves as 'Fokker Fodder.'

With the aim of raising British and French morale, a plan was put in hand for a major offensive, aimed for the spring of 1916. At this same time, the summer of 1915, Wing Captain C L Lambe had been given command of the Naval Air Forces at Dover and Dunkirk and was in the process of reorganising and expanding in preparation for that spring offensive. Approval had been given for an expansion to 8 squadrons, each to have a complement of 18 aircraft, with a central repair depot to be located at Dunkirk, and a local defence and training squadron based in Dover. Sites for new aerodromes were located between Dunkirk and Bergues. By April 1916, No 1 Wing was positioned at St Pol, No 4 Wing at Petit-Synthe and No 5 Wing at Coudekerque. Wing Captain Lambe had also gained approval for a new organisational structure, wherein a Flight consisted of 6 aircraft, a Squadron would be made up of 2 or more flights ,and a Wing of 2 or more squadrons. This brought the Royal Naval Air Service closer in structure to the Royal Flying Corps.

The 'Fokker Scourge' continued through the winter of 1915 /16 as the German Army battered the town of Verdun relentlessly in an effort to 'bleed France white.' Then, 2 things happened which turned the tide of Allied morale. Major General Sir Hugh Trenchard ordered his pilots to 'take the war to the enemy and keep it there' which, despite its initial high cost, seemed to work. The second factor was the inadvertent landing by a German pilot of a Fokker 'Eindekker' on an Allied airfield on 8th April 1916. The aircraft was captured intact and it was pitched against a Morane-Saulnier monoplane in a head-on air-to-air battle. To the surprise of the 2 pilots and most observers, the Fokker was found to be inferior to the Morane in level speed, manoeuvrability and rate of climb. The 'spectre was laid' and, as the news of the confrontation spread across the front, British and French pilots became ever bolder and the Fourth Army commander, General Sir Henry Rawlinson, reported 'we have command of the air.'